1

STEVEN and TARA SMITH

Dammeron Valley, UT

United States

Profile Information:

Aircraft Model: STOL CH 701, STOL CH 750
Project Status: Less than half
Building From: Partial kit
Engine installed (or plan to install): Lycoming
Building Experience: Have worked on airplanes before
Flying Experience: Commercial / CFI
Building and Flying Info / Your Profession / Other Background Info: AIRLINES
Home Airport (ie. KMYJ): KSGU

Comment Wall:

Dick Baner

Sorry to say that I had a very hard landing with my plane this spring and I sold what was left on ebay to a fellow from Texas who is rebuilding it. Replacement parts cost him around $2,000. Engine was still running fine. Basically it was a RAM performance engine from Ohio, fuel injected with 104 hp and computerized. great engine. good luck. dick baner

Sep 24, 2009
AL SHIMPA

Steve, I know the work I put into placing the Suzuki on the firewall and I can see you have a project ahead of you. I work for Arctic Cat snowmobile company so a $25,000 dollar rotax motor would not go over good here. My motor was $1,000 and the redrive was $4,500 which came from Raven redrive and they work great. My motor is a turbo 660 from a sled and I turned it down to 112 hp at 6300 rpm's for takeoff and about 5500-5700 at cruise with 95 lbs of torque. The only two problems I had was engine oil cooling and intercooler being too small. I have at this time 67 hours on the motor. Later Al Shimpa

Dec 16, 2009
andre beauchamp

The engine is running fine but I have not tested it with the prop on .This will be done in the spring. no place to work in the winter

Dec 17, 2009
andre beauchamp

Steven

The motor mount is the basic701 912 mount, modified to meet the rx 1 engine @ 3 degrees off center at the prop and at the height you desire. What is your plan for the psru?

Dec 18, 2009
jim miller

Hi steven and tara
are you building from scratch or trying to add and i can send some picures but i am not at home until the 4th gone to vancouver for christmass

Dec 22, 2009
jim miller

Hi steven and tara
yes thats all i did i made the floor pan wider the channel for the landing gear, the cross member behind your head and the controll arms that the alerons are attaches to all need to be longer when you make the two horizontal control arms becareful to make them the same ratio as original or you will have a twitchy or not so twitch control yoke . other than that the side skins of the rear fusalage are longer the bottom and top skins i made 5 inches wider and kept the slight curve on the longerons in both upand down direction . i also made my fire wall and dash 2 inches wider just to smooth the transition from the rear post to the cowling ,i didnt want it to be joggy ,it turned out great .
just made some dies to bend the landing gear ,and have installed it under the plane ,thats another thing you will have to deal with it will also need to be wider
what i did was i made the angle 65 deg instead of 60 ged bends because the longer the main gear is the softer the spring will be ,so i stood up the angle a little
if you are making it 8 inches wider you may want to make the landing gear 3.5 inches wide instead of 3.25 inches because the extra lenth will soften that landing gear spring a little more than what i got
If you go with a wider main gear flat bar you will have to make the channel wider and also make new wing strut pickups
and the cabin side skins will have to be .25 inches longer
every time you change somthing you have to follow it through the plans to see what it will affect, but its not hard you just need to take you time and figure it out
anywhay i could talk for hours if you are taking on this prodject you probably already know all this stuff, its good to talk to some one who is doing something similar
I will send some pictures asap thanks and keep in touch

Dec 23, 2009
jim miller

hi steven and tara
i just got back from vancouver so i will try to send some pictures by monday
i was looking at how long it took to make my main gear spring ,once i had made the dies it took 8 hours to prep and bend the flat bar . our shop rate is $80.00 hr so you would be looking at $640.00 plus tax and material .
I think the flat bar was around $100.00
its already mounted under the plane but i will get some pictures of it for you
the flat bar gets sanded to remove any scratches ,then the corners get routered from just under the cab all the way down to the end by the wheels ,then i gets sanded again ,then bent then finaly palm sanded
Do you know if the 750 main gear is made heavier as i mentioned in my last e mail 3.5 intead of 3.25 somthing to check out .
by for now
jim miller

Jan 2, 2010
jim miller

Hi Steven and Tara
i got some great pictures of my project but i cant find the cord to put them on my computer i think i left it in vancouver ,so it off to future shop to buy another one .
hopefully i can send them tomorrow night.
thanks and keep in touch
jim miller

Jan 5, 2010
AL SHIMPA

Hi Steven and Tara
The motor I have is a Suzuki 660 turbo from a sled and I have it set so it runs up to 6300 rpm's and that is 112 hp and cruise is around 5600-5700. I have a Raven Redrive on it and it does handle the hp and I have had no problems with it up to this point which is 63 hours on the plane plus a couple hours of running it on the ground. I did make a few changes from the pictures I first posted. One was a external oil cooler and larger intercooler. It leaves the ground in about 75 feet with no wind or a count of 4

Jan 18, 2010
jim miller

Hi steven and tara
here is a picture hope it comes through

Feb 1, 2010
jim miller

Hi steven and tara
did you get the pictures i sent and do you have any of your project

Feb 9, 2010
andre beauchamp

I did not work on the plane but built a hanger at my friend's place.We are also building the door, thirty two feet long by fabricating two by eleven feet sip panels times eighteen. This should be done by mid june.Then the plane will be moved to the hanger to be fully assembled. At least we hope by the end of summer.

May 29, 2010
andre beauchamp

Hi STEVEN AND TARA

Do you know of any 701 builder with full lottus floats

May 30, 2010
Glen West

Of course, would love to have you visit the hangar, i guess I need to fly over your place and see your aircraft in the yard. You probably can get off before the trees. My home phone is 635-5433. Please call and leave a message if we are not home at that time.
glen

Nov 16, 2010
RW Hunker Jr

Steven and Tara,

Please email me and I will email you back with the performance data on the vgs,

Thanks, Rob

jrhunker@gmail.com

Jul 28, 2012
Normand Lambert

Hi Tara and Steven,

It flew very well and actually the only thing to adjust is the elevator trim and that's it !

I had already practiced fast taxi test where the 701 did take off so I knew it would handle OK. I did perform landings (mandatory) from less than 10 feet up so I knew it was easily controlled down to the runway. I had tested the new radiator for more than 1 hour at full throttle, so the only thing left was to fly the thing... And fly it did! Took off at around 50mph and grabbed altitude at 75mph - 500 fpm being conservator... Very nice, no bad tendencies to drop a wing or anything. Went to 2200 feet for some stalls - there again no surprises - with the elevator full up, the 701 raised its nose and mushed down straight as an arrow. Aileron control remained good although sluggish. Rate of descent was 1000 fpm !!! Applied nose down and gradual full power and here we went.

Landings were so easy that I thought I had piloted a 701 in a past life !

Looking forward to more flight time in this little bird soon....

Regards,

Very happy builder/pilot

Normand

CH701 C-GFEU

Sep 16, 2012
Normand Lambert

Hi Steven and Tara,

Thanks for the comment...but most of the work (if work it is!) is done by the 701 !!!

Nevertheless, when I think of the 701, I can't believe that I built this thing and that it is so much FUN to fly. Hope you enjoy yours as much (or more) !

Regards,

Normand

Oct 22, 2012
Normand Lambert

Hi Steven and Tara,

No, not making a new wing but replacing the two inward (close to fuselage) ribs by higher ones. Also, Making half ribs to put on top of door tops. Will post pictures when started ! Cheers, Norman

Feb 11, 2013
Normand Lambert

Hi Steven and Tara,

I love what you're doing with your CH750 (?)... Lots of improvements and experimentation. Also love the fact that we can all SHARE our experiences - good or bad !

Keep at it, your bird looks amazing. Hope mine looks anything like yours.

Keep the photos coming, I'll do the same.

Regards,

Norm

Jul 17, 2016
Normand Lambert

Hi Steven,

Not even ! When I takeoff I make sure that my feet are on the floor and my toes on the pedals - not on the brakes !!! This is really weird and scary ! Only realized how close that call was AFTER I saw the destroyed rim !

If that had happened landing ... Well, I try NOT to think about it !

For sure I will get to the bottom of this and let you know.

Norm

Oct 10, 2016
charlie rosenzweig

Steven,

OK, Thanks for the reply.

Charlie

Oct 10, 2016
Paul Drake

I ordered a converted rx1 engine with prsu and clutch. I'm hoping a rotax 912 cowling will fit with minor mods.

Jan 15, 2017
Scott Raynal

What's the latest on your project?

Sep 24, 2017
Joshua smith

Hello, I am building my 701 and want to put a rx-1 engine in it. Would like to talk to you about the engine mount if you have figured that part out yet. Thanks

Mar 1, 2018

1 member likes this